BOOK IV.] History of Nature. 25 



Passage of seven Stadia (as hath been said) dividing Europe 

 from Asia. The first Straits they call Hellespontus. Over 

 this, Xerxes, King of the Persians, made a Bridge upon 

 Ships, and so led his Array across. From thence is extended 

 a small Euripus for the space of 86 Miles, to Priapus, a 

 City of Asia, where Alexander the Great passed over. From 

 that Place the Sea groweth wide, and again gathereth into 

 a Strait : the largeness is called Propontis ; the Straits, the 

 Thracian Bosphorus, 500 Paces over : by which Darius, the 

 Father of Xerxes, made a Bridge and transported his Forces. 

 The whole Length from Hellespont is 239 Miles. From 

 thence the vast Sea called Pontus Euxinus, and in Times 

 past Axenus, taketh up the space between Lands far remote, 

 and with a great winding of the Shores, bendeth backward 

 into Horns, and lieth stretched out from them on both Sides, 

 resembling evidently a Scythian Bow. In the midst of this 

 bending, it joineth close to the Mouth of the Lake Mreotis. 

 That Mouth is called Cimmerius Bosphorus, two Miles and 

 a half Broad. But between the two Bosphori, Thracius and 

 Cimmerius, there is a direct Course, as Polybius saith, of 

 500 Miles. But the Circuit of all this Sea, as Varro and 

 almost all the old Writers witness, is 2150 Miles. Nepos 

 Cornelius addeth thereto 350 Miles. Artemidorus maketh 

 it 2919 Miles: Agrippa, 2360 Miles: Mutianus, 2865 

 Miles. In like sort, some have determined the Measure 

 to the Side of Europe to be 4078J Miles: others, 11,072 

 Miles. M. Varro taketh his Measure in this manner : from 

 the Mouth of Pontus to Apollonia, 188J Miles: to Calatis, 

 as much : to the Mouth of Ister, 125 : to Borysthenes, 250 : 

 to Cherroriesus, a Town of the Heracleates, 375 Miles : to 

 Panticapaeus, which some call Bosphorus, the utmost Coast 

 of Europe, 222 1 Miles : the sum of which makes 1336J Miles. 

 Agrippa measureth, from Bizantium to the River Ister, 560 

 Miles : to Panticapseurn, 630 : from thence the very Lake 

 Mceotis, receiving the River Tanais which runneth out of 

 the Riphaean Mountains, is supposed to be in Compass 1306 

 Miles ; being the furthest Bound between Europe and Asia. 

 Others make 11,025 Miles. But it is evident, that from its 



